ENG 101 Formal Outline

Written & Oral Communication Outcome #5

Written & Oral Communication Outcome #5

Plan, organize, revise, practice, edit, and proofread to improve the development and clarity of
ideas. (LEAP B and D)

ECTC’s English Department has chosen to assess W&O Outcome #5 by focusing on “organize .
. . to improve the development and clarity of ideas.”

The Assignment

Compose a three-level, formal (full) sentence outline to organize your essay’s main ideas and to
organize support (development and evidence) for each main idea.

Your outline should be a formal sentence outline and follow the numbering and lettering
conventions explained on Owl Purdue’s Types of Outlines
(https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/544/03/). You can see a full sentence outline
sample on this page.

Your outline should begin with a labeled thesis statement.

Your outline must use a minimum of three levels.

Level One = roman numerals (I, II, III)
Level Two = capital letters (A, B, C)
Level Three = Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3)

Use the first level to state reasons that support the central claim and/or to state main ideas for
body paragraphs. You must include at least three roman numerals.

Use the second and third levels to provide support, development, and evidence for the reason
stated in the corresponding Level One Roman numeral.

Use one complete sentence for each idea on each level. Don’t use more because it becomes
difficult to read. Don’t use less (don’t use fragments or topics only) because it’s difficult to
understand what points you want to make when you do this.

Ideally, your outline should contain a thesis statement, 3-4 points/reasons, and support for each
point/reason in the second and/or third level.